Our Anniversary Trip Part I

Election Day is upon us! Finally!

This means it will be an end to those horribly annoying television and radio ads. I know that living in California (obviously not a swing state) has buffered me from most of the ads, but the last week was brutal! If you’re living in Ohio, you can turn your TV on again tomorrow.

Truthfully, I’m only closely watching the Presidential election and the California Prop. 37 race.

So,  while we in the U.S. await the results of our Presidential election, here is a recap of the trip that Tony and I took for our very first wedding anniversary.

We traveled up to San Francisco, stayed downtown, and had a blast. (I’m inserting some smaller pictures to make this easier to load.)

On Thursday I flew into SFO and went to a Flamenco show for dinner at Pena Pachamama.

The view from our hotel room

The show at Pena Pachamama on Thursday night.

Monday, Monday…

Once again, I start off the week apologizing for the lack of posts the week before.

Here’s what’s been going on:

– Last week I had multiple 10+ hour days at work (ouch)
– When I wasn’t going to bed early (9pm), I was doing homework for my plant-based nutrition course.
– I got my iPhone 5 in the mail. It was like Christmas and I was giddy.
– Still recovering from the sprained ankle. I’m walking just fine, but it’s unsteady.
– I did not cook. Not once. Tony cooked once, but I did not.
– Tony was offered a great new job opportunity. In celebration, we finally popped open the bottle of Pinot Noir we’d been holding onto for 3 years. It was lovely.

Here’s what I’m hoping next week brings:

– Tony agreed to pick up the cooking duties 2x a week. He is my hero.
– More good news, because you can never have enough.
– The case for my new phone. It feels naked and sad without a case.
– Recovery from last week. Weekends just aren’t long enough.
– Less chaos

I keep wondering to myself how on earth I managed to do this all when I had my last job. While I was unemployed I had all the time in the world. But now… not so much.

GMO Foods Debate in California

When one is striving to live a healthy life focusing specifically on the food they eat, especially living on a plant-based diet as my husband and I are, organics and genetically modified foods become the center of many concerns.

On the Fresh Spinach Facebook page, I have posted a few items regarding genetically modified organisms/ foods (GMOs). If you have been following those posts, you may already be aware of the fight for a ballot measure in California (to be voted on this November) to mandate the labeling of GMO foods in grocery stores. This is something that is close to my heart. I am a firm believer that GMO foods are contributing to health problems. I also believe that prolonged exposure to such foods will produce chronic diseases—raising the rates of cancer, especially, across the country.

source

The opposition to the ballot measure (Prop. 37 for those living in the state) maintains that these claims are unfounded; there have been no studies that show such diseases coming from these foods. What they won’t tell the voters is that there also have been no long-term studies done on these food products. To clarify, there is inconclusive evidence as of yet, which, to me, means we haven’t discovered the truth.

The supporters of labeling have put out, what I think are genius advertisements that really shed a light on the debate. These television ads make a clear link between the cigarette companies of yore claiming that smoking is perfectly safe and GMO conglomerates (Monsanto) insisting their products are safe.

So, what does this all have to do with eating a plant-based diet?

For my family, health and longevity are of the upmost importance. This is, in large part, the reason for choosing a plant-based diet.  Obviously there are many other reasons that go along with making such a huge lifestyle change, but health seems to remain supreme for me.

Tex Mex Vegan Style

This post is special for my dad, even though Fathers Day has just passed, he deserves it!

Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about protein in the vegan diet. Things like, “Where do you get your protein?” or “Do you take a supplement?” or “Other than tofu where do you get protein?”

Here, my friends, is where you can get an insane amount of protein, feel good about it, AND it’s SUPER easy to make for dinner. That’s no joke, this girl didn’t get to eat dinner until 9:30 tonight (stayed a bit late at work, gym, signed up for a trainer, Target, shower, cook).

This dish was inspired by a meal I got at KindKreme a few days ago. While this one is further from raw than the one we purchased is, it’s still amazing and delish!

Make Me a Movie Star!

Oh wow! Don’t feel like I’ve abandoned or forgotten you, friends! Life, as usual, has been non stop and it has been hard to find time to just breathe.

Lucky for me, I got the day off work today (this job rocks!) so I got to do a little pampering, catch up with an old friend, and actually visit the blog. I’ve missed it so much!

Dinners around here have been really uninspired since I’m still adjusting (or readjusting) to the working world and the lovely schedule that comes with it. My commute home gets me home between 5:45 and 6:15 each night, then I TRY to get to the gym. Dinner for us is usually at 8 or 9 o’clock at night. Not ideal, but what can you do?

The other thing I’m adjusting to? My kitchen just isn’t big enough for me. Clearly, I’m in need of one of those GIANT cooking show kitchens.

Speaking of cooking shows, Tony has mentioned to me that it would a fun idea for me to film a sort-of YouTube cooking show for you guys. Any thoughts? Any special requests if I decide to go down that road? I think it would be a lot of fun and I think you, my awesome readers, would enjoy it as well.

So here’s what we’ve been up to in the mean time:

Tony is attempting to grow organic tomatoes and I’m so excited!